


Antivan Brandy

by TrulyCertain



Series: Shield Raised [9]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Not actually a villain AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-11
Updated: 2019-03-11
Packaged: 2019-11-15 14:26:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18075122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrulyCertain/pseuds/TrulyCertain
Summary: The Tevinter sits on one of the couches, gestures to the other. “Please, rest your legs. Marching here to kill me must have been exhausting."Gal tries to find the words. “Why would I be here to kill you?”The Tevinter - Pavus, that was it - smiles. “Because I’m Venatori, of course.” He lifts a decanter. “Brandy?”





	Antivan Brandy

He remembers Josephine’s words.  _You must be careful, Galahad. We know the lord is Venatori, and his asking to meet with you is surely a trap._

He’d shrugged.  _I ought to go. It worked out well last time I walked into one._

He remembers that twisted Redcliffe. The song all around him and the sky torn open. Red lyrium tang on the tongue. Leliana dying with the Chant half-said. Being certain he’d be next. And then the strange rift that pulled him into the present, left him gasping and bloody on a stone floor but alive enough to defeat Alexius.

He’s shown into a study. A fire and a few candles cast low light, and shadows flicker on the walls. Past the couches, a desk is littered with papers - he sees strange symbols and equations, and one looks like it’s… something about reversing temporal flow? But that’s impossible. He squints at it. Looks again. It almost seems like…

“That one took me three days to solve. Impressive, isn’t it?”

He tries not to show his surprise, and probably fails. He glances behind him and can’t stop himself from saying, “You’re manipulating rifts.”

“In a minor way, yes. Nothing compared to what you can do, but then I have less to work with. My pathway to the Fade isn’t nearly so direct.” The Tevinter sits on one of the couches, gestures to the other. “Please, rest your legs. Marching here to kill me must have been exhausting."

Fuck.

Gal makes his way to the couch and lowers himself onto it, looking around. The servants have gone, and it looks like they’re alone, though if he believes that then he really is the Herald of Andraste. He looks at the man who’s called him here, and he admits, he’s surprised. He’d expected some grey, withered magister with spiked robes and armed guards. Instead he’s sitting opposite a man who can’t be older than him by much, if anything, who’s wearing simple battlemage leathers. Who… any other situation, might be handsome. Not that it matters.

He tries to find the words. “Why would I be here to kill you?”

The Tevinter - Pavus, that was it - smiles. “Because I’m Venatori, of course.” He lifts a decanter. “Brandy?”

Gal wants to turn over the table and get out his sword. It’s always more games, more pretence. Instead he shakes his head.

Pavus pours himself a glass of the brandy and takes a mouthful before he says, “Only, you may have been misinformed. There’s a reason I joined the Venatori, and that’s to make absolutely certain their plans fail.” He waves a hand. “Most of them are self-absorbed bunglers, but a few have brains, such as…” A shadow crosses his face, almost sadness. “Well. You’ve already met my mentor.”

Gal stares at him. “Alexius?”

Pavus nods. “Alexius. His plan nearly worked out  _too_ well. If Felix hadn’t gotten word to me…”

Gal knows. Knows it in his bones.“You got me out of that future.”

“Yes.” He nods in a half-bow, and it’d probably be a full one if he were standing. “Dorian of House Pavus, at your service.”

“Someone tipped us off about Redcliffe and said the mages were slaves.”

Pavus takes a drink, pretends to be uninterested. “What an odd coincidence.”

“You’ve already come here. You could have joined the Inquisition, we’d have offered you protection…”

“I can look after myself. What this needed was a _spy._ And they offered themselves up on a platter. They were begging me to join them, we were at the same parties, I would have felt cruel turning them down. So” - he carefully puts down the glass - “I have a proposal.” 

“Why should I trust you?”

Pavus gives him an assessing look. “Because there really  _are_ no guards in this room, and I’m much more than decent, but I think you could take me on. Oh, and I saved your life rather than simply leading you into a trap and letting Alexius kill you. That helps. There’s also the fact that I let you imprison one of my oldest  and best friends, because  _it was the right thing to do_ .”

Gal just watches him. “What’s your proposal?”

“You mentioned joining the Inquisition.”

“...I did.”

“The Venatori have been trying to get me to do it for a while now. They think I’d make a decent double agent.” He snorts. “They’re not wrong. So how about this: I join the Inquisition and pretend to spy on you, while telling you lots of interesting things about where the Venatori are pitching their tents and harvesting their lyrium, and about who their Elder One is. I can explain that to you, by the way, if you like. He’s a charming fellow.”

“I don’t like games.”

Pavus leans forwards on the couch. “Neither do I. But I don’t have much choice. And neither do you.” Moving back, he adds, “Besides, you already have a Qunari spy on the roster. I almost feel left out.”

“How did you - ?”

“The Venatori are slow, not blind.”

Gal decides to leave that where it stands. Too many questions, and probably limited time. “And what would you give them?”

Pavus looks towards the ceiling, considering. “You’d lose the odd supply cache. I’d do my best to minimise casualties, obviously. My idiot comrades could also end up stumbling onto several leads that somehow turn out to be ambushes. Or they could just do a lot of wandering round aimlessly due to useless directions.” He looks back to Gal, and smiles roguishly. “Up to you, I suppose. Or your spymaster.”

“You said you were decent in a fight?”

“I’m quite well-regarded. I can also bring some of that interestingly flashy time magic to the table, seeing as I developed a good portion of it when I was working with Alexius. And it says a lot that I’m not dead yet.”

True. Gal considers it all, and can’t help himself. “…You saved my life. Why?”

Pavus sighs. “Because you have a magic hand that might yet save us all. And because Felix liked you.”

Gal frowns at that.

“He said you had a sharp tongue somewhere under all…” He waves a hand. “…that. And that you were a good man.” He rubs at his forehead. “Which brings me back to a rather pressing matter. You do seem a decent fellow. I have no desire to be your enemy.”

Gal considers his words. Tries not to fall into any traps. “I don’t want you to be either.”

Pavus gives him a wan half-smile. “See. I grow on you. Look at it this way: there have to be at least some decent mages from Tevinter. Statistical probability. There are a few of us, after all.” He narrows his eyes. “You’re smiling. I can see it.”

Gal realises he is. “Muscle spasm. From the Mark.” An obvious lie.

Pavus snorts. “Felix wasn’t wrong.”

“I’m just a soldier. I’d have to speak to the others.”

Pavus is watching him with surprised interest. “Is that really what you think?”

“What?” Gal says, realising he’s missing something, halfway there but not yet -

“That you’re ‘just a soldier.’” Pavus tilts his head, amused. “You have no idea what they’re saying about you, do you? Did you think you could just get away with having that on your hand and no-one would notice?”

Yes. “I...”

With a laugh, Pavus says, “ _Kaffas_ , you  _did_ . Oh, that’s marvellous.”

Gal sighs. “Thought you didn’t want me killing you.”

Pavus’ smile doesn’t fall; if anything, it gets wider. “Yes, I can see why Felix understood you.”

Gal thinks it over, looks at the fire. Tries to work out how badly this could go. He says, “I can understand why you saved me. I’m less sure why you want to join us. Or why you joined the Venatori.”

Now the amusement’s gone. Pavus looks aside to the fire too, and picks up his drink to take a bigger swig. Then he says, “I can understand your confusion. Maker knows I’m not their biggest fan.” He holds the glass in his palm and looks into it, like talking to the brandy’s easier. “If you must know… They killed my father. I think they assumed they were doing me a favour.” A half-smile that’s the bleakest thing Gal’s seen since Redcliffe. “They were wrong.”

“I’m sorry,” Gal says, on reflex.

“Why? Not as if it’s your fault.” Pavus looks up, meets his eyes. “But I would like to tear the bastards to shreds, if that’s all right with you.”

Gal’s words are quiet, and he picks them carefully. “That can be arranged.”

Pavus grins, dark-eyed and vicious and with that bleakness in it, and then it’s gone. “Good. Then I take it we have an understanding?”

Gal nods, and starts to stand. “I’ll talk to the Inquisition.”

He pauses at the sound of robes, and looks up to see Pavus standing and offering him a hand.

Gal’s surprised; he thought handshakes were Marcher, but maybe they’re a Tevinter thing, too. It might be naive, but Pavus doesn’t seem like the hidden-blade type, so Gal takes the hand. It’s calloused, probably from staff-fighting, and warm.

He shakes it, and the smile Pavus gives him is quieter and genuine, without the sharp edges. “I look forward to hearing from you.”

“Same,” Gal says, and it’s… not all politeness. Josephine would kill him.

Gal ends up walking down the hallway with a quiet Tevinter shadow, and when he leaves, he looks back to see Pavus leaning in the doorway, watching him go.

**Author's Note:**

> “I’d make an excellent spy. Charming, handsome, perfect teeth and hair…” Yes, I really do overthink throwaway lines that much. I had the idea, but also wondered how a man who eschewed deception and politics could end up in that kind of position, and whether I could write it without making his characterisation completely AU. The answer, it seemed to me? Anger, desperation and pragmatism. And Dorian already plays with people’s perception of him in canon; I thought it’d be interesting to see him taking that a little further. I could have gone darker with this, I suppose, but I had no desire to write a villain AU.


End file.
